Friday morning my PPO and I were dispatched to a minor accident FSGI. The FSGI part occurs when a driver involved in an accident does not stay at the accident scene to exchange information. The accident occurred on the North Freeway. When the other driver did not stop, the caller continued driving to work. He is a Federal Reserve Bank officer and works at 1801 Allen Parkway, the Federal Reserve Bank of Houston. We arrived at the bank and watched as they lowered the first set of barricades and opened the 20 foot tall gate. We passed through that and once the gate closed and the barricades were raised, the next set of barricades were lowered and we met the officer whose vehicle was hit. We quickly got his information for the accident report. Then he asked if we wanted a tour of the bank. Absolutely, we replied.
He took us from the parking garage across a catwalk to the main bank building which is a huge four story brick structure. Our tour started on the third floor. We got off the elevator and entered a plushly carpeted enormous hallway, probably 25 feet wide with 20 foot ceilings. He first showed us the scale model of the property. Then came the Fed Store where you can buy souveniers. Followed by the cafeteria and serving line. Then the gym and locker rooms for the employees. Next was all of the meeting rooms, lecture rooms, and ball rooms. It was amazing how much meeting space and entertaining space was in the bank. Our guide told us that they have a lot of events at the bank and quite a few training classes for the Feds. He showed us the terraces and the large bar that are used for entertaining. Flat screen TVs and large pieces of art are all over the walls throughout the third floor. We then descended in another elevator, passed through more security and entered the vault building. It is the large building that faces Allen Parkway with the arched green roof. Here they have a display area of all the paper currencies that have been used in US. They also have a large display area that depicts the history of the Federal Reserve Bank system.
Then came the cool part, the vault. The money is kept in metal boxes with wheels. The boxes are about three foot squares. The boxes are moved by robots and are stacked on shelves by other robots. The shelves extend upwards from the main floor about 50 feet. There are counting rooms, printing rooms, and shredding rooms. They prohibit picture taking of all of the sensitive areas of the building. In fact, cameras and phones are not allowed in the vault area. Then we headed to the control room. This is where the officers have access to all of the buildings functions. They have about 30 monitors that show views from all of the eyes in the sky. They can monitor every inch of the building and grounds from this room. They have an armory and shooting range right off the control room. Overall, a very impressive building. All of the officers were very friendly and more than happy to show us everything. They do give public tours and the officers said that they are worth the trip. It was unfortunate that the officer was involved in an accidnet, but I was glad that we were dispatched to it.
The picture is of a 10 foot tall cylinder display filled with shredded money that is located in the bank history area.
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